Rental Furniture - Bed

[Gimesalot]

I need an extra queen bed for a week, in 2 months time.  I looked at Cort, but they charge $200 for the month.  I could buy a bed for that!  Also, I realized that the Rent a Center and Aaron's are Rent to Own, so I am worried about fees and penalties if I just rent for a week.

I am trying to purge our belongings, so owning an extra bed is not optimal.

Does anyone have some advice?

[geekette]

You could buy one of these nice air mattresses from Costco and sell it (or keep it for future guests).  My mom bought one 10 years ago or so, and has had it replaced by Costco TWICE due to leaking (they have an awesome return policy - she doesn't even have a membership anymore, but they still honor the warranty). 

It's been borrowed by many, useful for holidays, etc.  Squishes up into a small duffle. 

[Gimesalot]

I have thought about an air mattress but my guests are professional tango dancers, and I would like to offer them something that is very comfortable to help them rest after 10+ hours of dancing a day.

[ysette9]

Why not "rent" one from Craigslist? Get something nice and used and then just sell it back on Craigslist once you don't need it anymore.

[patrat]

Move your good bed into your guest room before the stay, and don't tell the guests (avoiding their feeling of obligatory guilt). Put the good blowup bed in your room for the stay. Keep your bedroom door closed and your bed made, and they will never know how frugal and awesome you are.

Bonus, when the guests depart you don't have to keep a big useless bed around, soaking up square feet.

We have a self inflating aerobed. It does the job quite well. Paid for itself in under one visit in saving the cost of a permanent bed or more than one night of hotel. It also gives you the option to crash with friends/family who lack the guestbed. If using one of these in a cold house/over a cold floor, you will need to put a foam mattress pad or something on, otherwise you will freeze.

[Kwill]

What about getting two twin foam mattresses and stacking them when not in use? Foam instead of inflatable because they don't loose air overnight and wake you up. You could use Patrat's strategy of swapping the real bed for the simple bed to make it seem nicer.

[Ccube19]

There's lots of mattress companies that allow free trials you could get one then just send it back.

[CmFtns]

You should let them use your room/bed and either get an air mattress or sleep on a couch.

Whenever my parents come to town they take my room/bed and I either take the couch, blowup mattress, or guest bed depending on how many other people are visiting. I don't think this is out of the ordinary to do and if you insist then I believe they would not think anything negative but rather think that you are very generous.

[JoJo]

Here's a memory foam I recently purchased from amazon for about $150 - been using for a couple months and like it alot.  Will need a base (unless you want to use it yourself on the floor).  May be able to sell after the month to recoup some of the cost.

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Ultima%C2%AE-Comfort-Memory-Mattress/dp/B005G5SIRG/ref=sr_1_5?s=furniture&ie=UTF8&qid=1459366396&sr=1-5&keywords=queen+mattress

[AZDude]

So maybe let the dancers use your bed and then you sleep on the air mattress for two months?

[mtn]

Our Costco Aerobed is more comfortable than our $800 full mattress, also from Costco. If we had room or the desire we'd sleep on it every night.

[HipGnosis]

Dunno if Aldi has the same things on sale at all locations, but I just got their weekly flyer and they have a queen size air bed w/ built-in elec. pump and carry case for $40

[Gimesalot]

Why not "rent" one from Craigslist? Get something nice and used and then just sell it back on Craigslist once you don't need it anymore.

I looked on craigslist first and I didn't see anything that was reasonable.  Just overpriced bedroom sets.

Move your good bed into your guest room before the stay, and don't tell the guests (avoiding their feeling of obligatory guilt). Put the good blowup bed in your room for the stay. Keep your bedroom door closed and your bed made, and they will never know how frugal and awesome you are.

This is not an option either because we don't have a "good bed" just a mattress set on the floor. In addition, we don't have doors on our bedrooms because we live in a shotgun, so there is no way to not go through our bedroom.

There's lots of mattress companies that allow free trials you could get one then just send it back.

  I am frugal not cheap.

You should let them use your room/bed and either get an air mattress or sleep on a couch.

I thought of this as well, but we would have to put the couch bed away every day since it will be in the room next to the room where they are going to be teaching classes.  I have considered the thought of hanging a curtain, but then when someone goes to the bathroom, they will see it.  Also, my husband and I feel that is it okay for us to sleep on a mattress on the floor, but we want nicer for our guests.

Dunno if Aldi has the same things on sale at all locations, but I just got their weekly flyer and they have a queen size air bed w/ built-in elec. pump and carry case for $40

We live in the land of no Aldi :(

I think I am going to see if any of my friends have a bed we can borrow.  If not, I think we will have to buy a bed for our mattress and let them use that while we sleep on our futon.  Thanks for all your ideas.

[CmFtns]

I think I am going to see if any of my friends have a bed we can borrow.  If not, I think we will have to buy a bed for our mattress and let them use that while we sleep on our futon.  Thanks for all your ideas.

I think this is a great idea... A relatively inexpensive bed frame will be an investment that you will actually use for yourself for years to come and something you will probably buy eventually anyway for yourselves.

[patrat]

You can build a slat bed frame from construction lumber, using a saw as simple as a human powered crosscut saw. I built one for about $50, because I was disgusted at the quality of the store bought frames.

Use 2x8 lumber for the sides, a 2x4 or 2x6 for the center support rail, 2x4 with a decorative slant cut for the feet. Get the bulk packs of 1x3 lumber for slats, they work well and space the slats apart using a 1x2 or 1x3. Use self tapping wood screws and a drill or even a screwdriver to put it together.

If you want it to look nicer when you are done, spend another $25 on sandpaper and stain/paint. This is a 2 night project if you are new to it. Add another 1-2 nights for doing optional finish work.
I vaguely followed this plan, but made some cost saving changes. I skipped the top rails and the finish. If you don't plan to do a headboard, make sure the feet will allow the bedframe to push up flush to a wall (baseboards can get in the way).

Spend money on good self drilling screws, it is worth the time savings. I like the ones that use a torx or square drive bit to drive them in. A drill is a big time saver. A power saw saves only a little time for this project vs a handsaw. I skipped the finish because my bedset has a skirt designed to cover the box spring. This style of bed does not use a box spring. The skirt covers the bedframe instead.

If you want storage underneath, make your feet the right height for your bins. I made my bed feet to put the mattress top at the same height as a kitchen chair, so my mother could get off the bed easily.

http://www.ana-white.com/2012/01/plans/hailey-platform-bedhttp://www.ana-white.com/2012/01/plans/hailey-platform-bed

[Guses]

We have a self inflating aerobed. It does the job quite well. Paid for itself in under one visit in saving the cost of a permanent bed or more than one night of hotel. It also gives you the option to crash with friends/family who lack the guestbed. If using one of these in a cold house/over a cold floor, you will need to put a foam mattress pad or something on, otherwise you will freeze.

I would rather sleep on a layer of sheet on the floor than an inflatable mattress (ever again)!

All the ones I have tried (3 or 4 so far) deflate somewhat over a single night. So much so that by 2-3 AM you are basically sleeping on the floor anyway.

Also, if you are 2 (or more :-O...) in bed, the minute someone gets up or move, you sink/get propelled into/off of the mattress by the same amount of volume the person displaced. In other words, sleep alone or don't sleep at all.

[mtn]

We have a self inflating aerobed. It does the job quite well. Paid for itself in under one visit in saving the cost of a permanent bed or more than one night of hotel. It also gives you the option to crash with friends/family who lack the guestbed. If using one of these in a cold house/over a cold floor, you will need to put a foam mattress pad or something on, otherwise you will freeze.

I would rather sleep on a layer of sheet on the floor than an inflatable mattress (ever again)!

All the ones I have tried (3 or 4 so far) deflate somewhat over a single night. So much so that by 2-3 AM you are basically sleeping on the floor anyway.

Also, if you are 2 (or more :-O...) in bed, the minute someone gets up or move, you sink/get propelled into/off of the mattress by the same amount of volume the person displaced. In other words, sleep alone or don't sleep at all.

You've either only been on very bad air mattresses, or else don't know how to blow them up.

I slept on a cheap air mattress for about 3 months. It was better than the mattress that replaced it, and about on par with the mattress that I had before it. The mattress that my wife and I have, an aerobed, is better than our "real" mattress as well.

[Sibley]

OP, buy an inexpensive bed frame (or find for free), put the real mattress on it. buy an air mattress for you. Smile and don't tell anyone how you managed it.

[mtn]

Am I the only one thinking "bedbugs" here with a used bed off Craigslist or the like? Of course I have problems staying in motels or short term rentals for the same reason - I do it but kind of "bugs" me :-). I'd look for a new inexpensive one or a good portable one that you can keep afterwards for future guest.

No. And when I go into hotels--even extremely nice hotels--I immediately do a bed-bug search. That shit's like herpes. You'll bring that home with you.

[JoJo]

Am I the only one thinking "bedbugs" here with a used bed off Craigslist or the like? Of course I have problems staying in motels or short term rentals for the same reason - I do it but kind of "bugs" me :-). I'd look for a new inexpensive one or a good portable one that you can keep afterwards for future guest.

No. And when I go into hotels--even extremely nice hotels--I immediately do a bed-bug search. That shit's like herpes. You'll bring that home with you.

And both of them you get from Craigslist!